The Voice finale: Is anyone listening any more?

Hopeful ... Anja Nissen has a spot in the finals, although her chances appear slim.

Catch our recap of the finale tonight

Reality talent shows aren’t what they used to be.

Once upon a time, an Australian Idol winner could be guaranteed chart domination in the weeks after victory. However, with a bundle of similar programs competing for the care-about-this-person’s-future-career dollar, tonight’s final of The Voice seems less like a catapult to stardom and more like one of those internships where hopeful young people are assured that it’ll give them valuable “exposure in the industry”.

So, will tonight’s winner join 2012’s Voice Karise Eden and last year’s victor Harrison Craig in skyrocketing to… er, releasing a single last year ahead of an album that never came, and doing a disc of tired standards for Mothers’ Day, respectively?

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Five people are competing in The Voice’s finals this evening and for the first time it’s all down to audience votes. This means, among other things, that the winner will not be performing their new single on the night, which probably means no number one to come.

In last week’s semi-finals there were four women (Holly Tapp, Kat Jade, Sabrina Batshon and Anja Nissen), three men (Frank Lakoudis, Johnny Rollins and Jackson Thomas) and one male-female duo (ZK).

In what may give a telling insight into the voting demographics, none of the female solo artists were voted into the finals. Anja Nissen was given a last-second save in a public vote between her and the other female contestants.

Given this is another public vote and that Nissen has shown no sign of becoming a scruffy, somewhat vacant-looking dude in the last week, we can probably assume she’s going home empty handed. Which is a pity, since she, Jade and Tapp had the strongest, most versatile voices in the competition.

The other outsider is Adelaide’s indigenous R'n'B team ZK. They’re the ones most likely to have an serious musical career ahead – expect them to become the backing vocalists of choice for discerning international touring artists, for a start – but chances are the winner is going to be a solo male.

And, conveniently, we can make a solid guess based on the three musical archetypes on offer. Will Australia vote for the rocker (Lakoudis), the milquetoast singer-songwriter (Thomas), or the soul belter (Rollins)?

The most likely scenario appears to be a win for Team Kylie with Rollins. That’s not a gut feeling: sales on iTunes contribute to votes and a look at this week’s ARIA charts showsRollins’ soulful take on the classic When a Man Loves a Woman shot all the way to the lofty heights of… um, thirty-eight.

Then again, his was the only track to crack the Top 50. Outside in the chart wilderness, the next most successful was Nissen’s version of Whitney Houston’s I Have Nothing.

Sorry, hopefuls: the market appears to have already spoken. Still, as an extended teaser for the tour that starts this weekend, it’ll probably not make much of a difference.